


reversi

by SEMellark



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst, Fluff, M/M, so enter at your own risk, spoilers for the latest manga update, thanks Isayama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-07
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-07-12 20:44:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7121923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SEMellark/pseuds/SEMellark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>But if one thing is going to change, it’ll be Armin. He’s going to get his future. Eren will make sure of it this time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	reversi

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pretty firmly in the SNK Time Loop Theory camp. That being said, I don't really explain the time loop shit in this. At all. Because this is just me coping.
> 
> Also if you haven't seen the manga spoilers already and don't want to, then SAVE YOURSELF NOW AND GO

_“We promised each other, right?”_

Of course.

_“That we’d go to the sea together?”_

That was the dream. To go beyond the walls and never have to look back. And if anyone deserved to have their dream fulfilled, if _anyone_ should've been rewarded for their efforts, it was _Armin, dammit._

_“Have I ever lied to you, Eren?”_

He fucking refuses to let it end this way.

Even if it means turning his back on humanity.

“See you later… Eren.”

* * *

“Eren?” Mikasa’s hair is longer. It blows in the gentle breeze and tickles Eren’s face.

Eren stares at her, balancing on the edge of _then_ and _now_. Her hand feels so small on his shoulder, her grip as firm as ever. The look in her eyes is unfathomable, and Eren wonders if she can tell that he’s someone she’s never met before.

“You were having a nightmare,” she murmurs, retracting her hand when Eren maintains his silence. “I couldn’t wake you.”

“Sorry,” Eren says, but he feels like he’s choking, and she remains still as he reaches for her, taking her by the shoulders and shaking. “Mikasa, you – Do you think I should join the Scouts?”

Mikasa’s brow furrows. “We've been over this. You’ll only get yourself killed.”

Her words hurt, even though Eren had known this wasn’t _his_ Mikasa, the one he'd left back in the cellar. He’d just wanted to be sure.

“Are you feeling alright?” Mikasa inquires as Eren scrambles to his feet, gazing out across the meadows he’d grown up in and hadn’t seen in far too long. The grass and flowers had long since died when they finally made it back to Shiganshina in his time, but Eren hadn’t thought to stop and mourn. “You look a little pale.”

“Mom,” Eren murmurs to himself. What can he do for her now? How much can he change? He’s just a boy here no matter how much he knows. “Can you take the wood back home by yourself, Mikasa? I – I need to find Armin.” His voice cracks, and Mikasa purses her lips but otherwise remains still and quiet.

Eren hasn’t spoken that name in what feels like years, and it sits oddly in his mouth, the syllables archaic and strange. He clears his throat and turns in the direction of the main gate. “Don’t let Dad leave the house until I get back. I _have_ to speak to him, Mikasa.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Mikasa replies, no further questions asked, and Eren loves her, would fall into her arms and weep for the hardships yet to come if he had the time, but he takes off at a dead run in the direction of town, trying to remember the layout of the ancient streets.

* * *

Eren was never attached to this town or any of the people in it, and in the years after the fall, he only ever wanted to return just to open that cellar door.

He never cared for these ignorant people and the lies they readily accepted, but it absolutely kills him to run through the busy streets and remain silent about what is to come later in the evening. They probably wouldn’t believe him anyway, would hold him in contempt just as they do the Wall Occultists, but Eren still wishes he weren’t so powerless.

He wants to save them, but he can’t. All he can do is avenge them with the knowledge he brought back from a distant future.

Despite the wishes and efforts of his superiors, Eren returned for one reason and one reason only, and he won’t deviate from the path he chose.

The back streets are as easy to navigate as they always were. Eren finds Armin and his tormentors as effortlessly as he had the first time, but on this go-around, Eren can handle a few bullies without Mikasa’s help.

There’s blood on his knuckles as the kids stumble away. His entire body trembles, and Eren breathes heavily through his shame at having taken out his bubbling fury on those kids. But they deserve it for touching Armin. They always have.

Eren doesn’t offer Armin his hand, mostly because he doesn’t trust himself not to jump Armin as soon as he looks at him, but also because he knows Armin wouldn’t take it. This Armin has never thought highly of himself, Eren now understands, although it doesn’t completely make sense to him.

Armin’s saved their asses more times than Eren knows or can even count. He was, is, and always will be the best of them, and Eren hopes that is something Armin will come to realize a second time.

“Thank you,” Armin says, and Eren nearly falls to his knees at the sound of his voice, “but I can handle a few bullies.”

“I know you can,” Eren insists, turning to catch his friend’s wide, blue gaze. He stuffs his hands into the pockets of his pants to hide how they shake. Armin is just as perceptive as Mikasa, but he wouldn’t dream of withholding his questions if he thought something was really wrong. “I just get so _mad_ when I see them putting their hands on you. It’s only ‘cause they’re jealous, you know.”

Armin brushes dirt off his sleeves, mouth slightly parted as he gives Eren an assessing glance. Eren can almost feel his face heating up with mortification. Leave it to him to fuck up acting like himself. Is this how an Eren with no knowledge of the future would act? He doesn't even remember how it felt to be a child, let alone one who was so oblivious to the world around him.

“Hey,” Eren says when it gets to be too much, when the lines in his mind blur between _this_ Armin and _that_ Armin, the child and future soldier, his best friend and future lover, intelligent and selfless and brave regardless of time and space. “Will you come back to the house with me? My dad’s about to leave on a trip, and I wanna see him before he goes.”

He offers Armin his hand, and the blond takes it without hesitation this time, allowing Eren to pull him from whatever humiliation those asshole kids had left him with.

It takes every ounce of energy Eren has left to remain calm. It still hasn't quite sunk in yet that Armin is _alive,_ and how is Eren supposed to keep his grief at bay? How is he supposed to pretend that he wasn't just a teenager who'd lost one of the few things he'd held dear? Armin has no idea what Eren has seen, and Eren knows it would be a stretch for anyone to believe him. The only one who could possibly understand what he’s going through is his father.

But this is _Armin,_ and Eren came back for him so they could see the ocean together, and he has to at least try and explain that before he loses his fucking mind.

Eren squeezes Armin’s hand tightly within his own and has to remind himself to keep breathing as their eyes meet. “If I told you I came back from the future, would you believe me?”

He doesn't know what he expected, but it wasn't for Armin to start laughing. And Eren can’t even be mad, he’s missed the sound so much. “I don’t think you’d ever lie to me, Eren,” Armin says once he’s collected himself, “so, yes, I’d believe you.”

“Me too,” Eren blurts without much thought, and Armin giggles again. Their linked hands swing in the space between them as they walk. “Er, I don’t think you’d ever lie to me, that is.”

“I’m glad.” Armin’s smile is so small, and Eren aches inside and out, because they’re only children. They’re only children, and tonight the Titans will get in, and tomorrow the entirety of Wall Maria will be uninhabitable. And if Eren somehow manages to change nothing, in five years... in five years, Armin will die, and Eren will have to jump back to this day all over again, unable to live with that failure and loss.

An entire line of events lies ahead of them, and Eren doesn’t know if he’ll be able to stop or affect them in any way. His mother could still die today, and Armin's grandfather in a month, and Captain Levi's entire squad in five years. It could all go horribly wrong. Eren still isn't quite sure what they're up against.

But if one thing is going to change, it’ll be Armin. He’s going to get his future. Eren will make sure of it this time.

**Author's Note:**

> this is awful but i'm tired and heartsick so who careesss
> 
> Armin Arlert was too good for this world and we didn't deserve him
> 
> assuming he really is dead and not just critically injured but who knows


End file.
